Faces
by A Wanderer in the Snow
Summary: Lily Potter attends her first Ministry Function with her parents and someone she once knew well pops back into her head.
1. Chapter 1

**Faces**

* * *

Lily sat on the edge of her bed, kicking her heels against the little drawer that formed the base of the mattress and staring into space. Somewhere in the house a voice was calling for her; she could hear it, but it could well have been calling for her brothers, if they had been there, for all the attention she paid to it. She was thinking about someone whom she had known since she was little.

Someone knocked her door and a tear trickled down her face, but it wasn't a sad one, not entirely.

'Lilyloo? Are you in?'

The door opened a fraction and her mother peered into the room, spotting her instantly.

The door opened fully, 'There you are! You aren't even dress-!'

Ginny Potter silenced herself when she noticed the tear coursing down her daughter's cheek, and the change from impatient to concerned mother was immediate, 'Oh, honey, what's wrong?'

Lily merely shook her head and stared at the floor while a second and then a third tear ran down her cheek and dropped silently into her lap.

'I miss him too, you know.' Ginny replied to the silent answer, taking a seat on the mattress beside her daughter and putting an arm around her shoulder.

Lily responded by leaning against the comforting warmth her mother provided, still she said nothing though. Ginny could understand it; it was the first time her daughter had had to suffer the death of a loved one or, at least, one she knew well. Andromeda Tonks may have slipped peacefully on several years ago; moving on to be reunited with her husband and daughter, but, Lily had barely known the haughty older woman.

Now though, she was coming to terms with her first real loss. It may have only been a family pet; but a character as large as Bosun had been, in terms of personality and sheer size, was a hole that would not be filled easily. Arriving as a large, fluff-bound puppy when Lily was only three years old, they had grown up together, played together and been Lily's constant companion when her brothers had left for Hogwarts.

He had been a rock around which Lily had based her childhood; staunch protector and loyal friend, a companion to play with and a soft shoulder to cry on. In short; a good listener to the woes of a young girl and the best of friends. The gigantic English Mastiff had finally succumbed to the finality of age; laying down his great, shaggy, greying head for the last time only two days before.

Lily slipped her own arm around her mother's waist and hugged her tightly, 'It wasn't just him I was thinking about,' she whispered, knowing whom her mother meant.

Ginny tilted her head to one side, 'Oh?'

Maybe she had missed something? Her only daughter was old enough, but she was fairly sure that Lily didn't currently have a boyfriend. Surely Hugo would have let something slip to Hermione if she did? She ran through a list of potential candidates that Lily had shown any interest in lately and came up with nothing. As far as she was aware, her daughter's last relationship had ended when she left Hogwarts a good couple of months ago.

Could she be missing James? He had moved to Africa over a year and a half ago and Merlin knew that Ginny missed her son terribly. But then, Lily and James had never really been that close.

What could the matter be?

'It's nothing, Mum,' Lily sniffed and wiped her tears away, 'I should get dressed anyway.'

Knowing her daughter didn't like to make a scene, Ginny took this as her signal to leave; standing up and straightening out her dress for the evening. There was a Ministry Ball this evening and Harry, as a Department Head, was obliged to attend, despite his dislike of the formal occasions. Ginny had suggested that Lily come along and do a little networking; it would help Lily meet some more of the wider world and they would probably be astonished by the girl who refused to be treated as "Harry Potter's daughter".

Nevertheless, tears beforehand were never a good sign; especially with Lily. James and Al had always been noisy criers when they were little, much like Ginny's older brothers, but Lily took after her father. The no nonsense tears that appeared silently and vanished whenever there was someone there to see them.

Ginny swept across to the door, knowing that to stay any longer would only irritate her daughter, but was pulled up before she reached it by a quiet voice.

'Mum?'

Ginny turned back. Lily was facing her and holding up two gowns on their hangers; evidently weighing up the merits of each one. Any signs of tears were already gone from her face; she was one of the remarkable people who could shed tears without turning into a blotchy mess, and in that, Ginny envied her baby girl.

'Yes, darling?'

'Do you think Teddy will ever come back?'

It took Ginny several moments to understand the question and her godson popped into her head for the first time in several weeks.

Teddy had been gone for three and half years now. Ginny only had a vague idea of what had happened to him after the terrible circumstances surrounding the death of his fiancée; an event that had something to do with the events that had rocked the country a few years ago. People had feared the rise of a new Dark Lord. She only knew as much as she did because Harry had desperately tried to keep tabs on him, but even the vast resources at her husband's disposal could not keep track of Teddy Lupin.

Teddy had left Hogwarts, joined the Auror Academy and had an unsuccessful relationship with her niece, Bill's daughter Victoire. Ginny assumed the year gap between them each leaving Hogwarts had been the cause of them breaking up; she didn't blame them, it had been hard on her and Harry when they had gone through it. From there he had been successful in joining the ranks of the Auror Corps and had fallen in love with an incredible young lady who Ginny would have been more than happy to see him married to.

Around the same time though, a bombing campaign in the Muggle world; apparently the work of a terrorist organisation called the Real IRA, had covered the rise of an ancient Celtic Sect. It had been the bloodiest period of British Wizarding History since the Fall of Voldemort and Teddy had taken it upon himself to defend what he thought was right.

The result was such that Ginny had watched her godson take the frontline in the battle between Ministry and this shadowy group. There had been chaos as investigations involving Ministry Officials supporting the group had been on the verge of turning into an inquisition and Harry had desperately tried to help the Minister prevent the Wizarding World from being revealed to Muggle Britain. As a result Teddy became embroiled in the heart of the conflict and a sequence of events had led to Teddy's fiancée's disappearance.

Teddy disappeared shortly afterward.

Thankfully Harry had discovered some clue as to the Sect's origin that led them to the far North of Scotland where the Auror Corps had found his horribly injured Godson kneeling over the body of his soon-to-be wife.

Near death himself, Teddy had been escorted to St Mungo's and spent three months in the Auror Ward under intensive care. Then one day, only a week after the Healers had hold Harry and Ginny that he was going to make a full recovery; he had vanished. Harry had received a letter of resignation from his Godson and a second letter from International Confederation of Wizards, detailing that his Godson had been recruited into the ranks of the "Phantoms".

That had been the last time they had seen their Godson, and nearly four years had passed since that day.

Ginny looked sadly at her daughter and remembered the terrible grief on her Godson's face, even as he lay unconscious in a St Mungo's bed.

Harry and herself had been his surrogate parents; James, Albus and Lily his surrogate brothers and sisters; the multitude of Weasleys, his extended surrogate family. They had all loved Teddy as a son, a brother, a nephew or a cousin, but, at the heart of the matter, was that Teddy's true family had died a long time ago. Andromeda Tonks had been Teddy's last remaining link to his real family and that brave woman had passed on to eternity; in short, there was not much left in Britain for Teddy.

She sighed and gave her daughter her honest answer, 'I don't know, Lily, I don't know.'

* * *

Lily and her parents apparated to the Ministry function with a pop, her father directing them into one of the small, roped off Apparition Points in a room off the main reception area. Usually the Ministry reserved somewhere like the Muggle London Guildhall for functions that included the International Magical Community and tonight was no exception. Westminster's Central Hall, near to the Thames riverbank and opposite Westminster Abbey had been taken over and transformed, as befitted a Ministerial Ball.

Lily found herself clinging to her father's arm as they made their way to the door; the usher not bothering to ask for an invitation upon recognising Harry Potter, the man who triumphed over the Dark Lord Voldemort and Head Auror of the British Ministry for Magic. She noted her Dad's frown as he handed over the invitation anyway; knowing that he hated to be treated differently, much like herself.

The man pulled back the slip of red rope blocking the doorway and they left the tiny Apparition Room, hearing the 'pop' of guests arriving behind them. As they did so, however, a mass of Press agents; photographers and reporters swung towards them from where they were being held back by another thin, red line of rope and two stern looking Aurors. Flashbulbs went off and the three Potters suddenly found themselves enveloped in a wave of light and thrown questions.

'Mr Potter! Is it true that the Carvone Family have begun operations in Britain?'

'Mrs Potter, a word, if you would?'

'As Head Auror, can you confirm rumours that-'

Then they spotted Lily.

The camera flashing began anew and a grey haired woman called above the frenzy of noise, 'Miss Potter, who designed your dress robes for this evening?'

Thankfully though, her Dad wasn't one to stop to answer questions; he didn't like the Press for some reason and she rarely had heard him say anything resembling charitable for them. They swept passed the mass of shouting men and women and headed towards the Hall.

* * *

Lily hadn't seen such a strange and exotic collection of people since they had been to the Quidditch World Cup in Peru when she was eleven. Here were Wizards and Witches from all over the world; a meeting of the most powerful Heads of Wizarding Governments had called them together and they came in force.

Westminster's Central Hall had been taken over the day before by Ministry staff, according to her Dad; it looked incredible. Silk banners, depicting the flags and symbols of the attending countries hung from the balcony above and an enchanted orchestra was playing quietly on a stage opposite the main entrance. The ceiling was high enough to have a small Quidditch match inside and the electric lights had been replaced with thousands of glowing lanterns that shone brightly above the lower floor, but only dimly for those on the balcony were Lily caught a glimpse of tables laid out for the banquet.

But it was the people who caught her eye; hundreds of Magical Folk from across the globe and they were each trying to outdo the others in appreciation of their own country. There were spangled, striped, rainbow, sparkling, shimmering, glittering, polka dot and fur robes and hats that made the scene almost painful to look at, but they were nothing to the people.

Africans and Orientals, Europeans and Americans were clustered together in chattering groups. Twice Lily thought she saw things that she wasn't sure were real; the first was an African lady who seemed to be entirely called in shimmering, pink feathers; and the second, a small Asian man who appeared to be being followed by a seven foot high living statue, carved entirely out of jade. That was nothing to the turbaned man they passed who had cheetah on a leash, that upon spotting Lily passing by, rubbed itself against her legs like a housecat and emitted a quiet chirruping sound that she barely heard over the noise of orchestra and conversation.

Lily found herself more than a little in awe and wondered if she did not look a little drab in her emerald dress robes in comparison to the floating silk cloud that the woman she recognised as the French Minister's wife was wearing. Still holding onto her father's arm, she followed them through the crowd, more than a little afraid she might get separated, until she realised she was being led to a part of the room where she began to recognise more than the occasional person.

'Hey, Mr Potter!' a loud, American voice called over the rumbling noise of conversation and the Potters turned as a three.

Lily found herself suddenly being introduced to a Mr Daly; the American Foreign Representative, a ruddy faced Southern who bowed and replied, 'My pleasure, ladies,' to Harry's introduction of them.

'I must introduce you to my wife, while I have a quick word with the Head Auror, here-' he began but was cut off by a hollow boom, as though someone had thumped a wooden staff against a stone floor, and the silence that followed.

The crowds seemed to be parting before a small group in wave of motion and suddenly Lily found herself at the front of a corridor of people leading from the main entrance to the small stage set up in front of the orchestra, which had abruptly ceased to play. Five men and women were walking down the length of the corridor as it opened before them and Lily hurried to get out of the way, pressing up against her Mother and wondering who these people could be.

'Ladies and Gentlemen: The Supreme Mugwump, Albrect Joran-Ansiledes.'

One man stood out from the little group; partly because he was the only one of the four not wearing a mask that covered at least part of their face, but also because of the plain black robes he wore in a room full of the brightest costumes and outfits that could be found anywhere. He was surrounded by a moving square of the masked men and women, walking with a strange arrogance among this collection of powerful representatives.

Other than his robes and arrogant stride though; the Supreme Mugwump looked somewhat like some Eastern European nobleman. He had a short goatee that curled on the tip of his chin and his hair was oiled back across his skull, he also carried a gold tipped cane of some dark wood.

It wasn't he that interested Lily though, now that she knew who he was; it was the four men and women surrounding him. All wore masks that somewhat hid their identity and all looked vaguely threatening in militaristic, uniform robes of a dull crimson; similar to those worn by Aurors preparing for a raid. They were all tall and Lily could guess from what little of their faces that she could see, that they were probably very good-looking.

The masks though; each was different.

The woman at the front left wore a carnival harlequin's that covered her eyes and sparkled over her brilliantly red lips that looked as they were on the edge of bursting with laughter, while the shaven-headed man behind her had what looked like the lower half of a black skull covering his mouth and nose. His eyes glared out at everyone and everything, moving over the crowd as though daring someone to challenge him. Whereas she looked at ease; he looked on the verge of lashing out at anyone who came to close.

The other pair of men and women were different again; the mask worn by the woman at the back right of the square, which covered her face diagonally by curling around her forehead, seemed to absorb light as though it was simply a moving shadow. In comparison, the side of her face that was showing seemed very pale. The man nearest to Lily as he passed was the most intriguing though; his mask entirely covered his face and was a simple white human face without any expression at all.

They swept past her and ascended the stage, surrounding a lectern there that the black-robed man walked to.

'Who are they?' she whispered to her mother and father who had broken off talking to the American to wait for the Supreme Mugwump, who appeared to be getting ready to make a speech.

It was her father who answered her while her mother shrugged, 'They're called "Phantoms". They're recruited from around the world to serve as guards for the Supreme Mugwump and the highest officials of the ICW.'

For some reason her Mum turned and gave her Father a very significant look.

'Dumbledore never had bodyguards…' she muttered, raising an eyebrow.

Her father gave her the smallest of smiles, 'He never needed them.'

Lily's mind was churning though; she could have sworn that a few years ago she had heard her father say to her mother that the reason for Teddy's disappearance was because he had been recruited by "Phantoms". She hadn't understood at the time and had been unable to ask; she had been eavesdropping on a private conversation. Already thoughts were running through her head though; first and foremost, who was the man in the blank mask?

* * *

**A/N: **Just something that popped into my head, set several years after Teddy Lupin and the Phantom Queen, although I'm not sure that that story will be continued; it has been adapted for non-fanfiction purposes. If you enjoyed this, leave a review and I'll see what I can do about maybe continuing it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Lily barely noticed the speech that washed over the mostly attentive crowd; after all, it was most political and she couldn't stand politics. Instead she spent her time watching the four men and women on the stage beside the Supreme Mugwump and wondering who the people beneath the masks were.

She had asked her Dad and he had quietly replied that they were recruited from various countries versions of the Auror Corps, or the Magical Law Enforcement Squads. He said that that was all he knew, but Lily doubted it.

Had Teddy really left everything behind to join a group of people he didn't know? Lily couldn't fathom it and stared harder at the man in the blank mask, wondering if Teddy was, right now, hidden beneath it and staring back. Could it be possible? Would he even recognise her?

If it was him, how could they get a chance to speak to him?

* * *

On the balcony above and behind the Potters a grim-faced man stirred in the shadows.

* * *

The speech went on far too long for Lily's liking and she noticed that her mother shared her restlessness. It seemed to be coming to a close however, when an arm slipped around her waist and a voice whispered in her ear, 'Hey, Sis.'

She turned, grinning, to greet her older brother, 'Al! What took you so long?' she whispered back, hugging him fiercely.

'Only just got off duty; Pendicot made us do "one last sweep of the perimeter". Completely unnecessary, obviously; the number of wards we have up is ridiculous,' he replied with a lopsided grin.

Albus Potter, known more commonly as Al, was in his final year of the Auror Training Program. As such, he was tasked with real assignments; including security supervision at tonight's Ball.

As he whispered greetings to their parents, a thought occurred to Lily; would Al know anything about the Phantoms? Would he know any more about Teddy?

The speech came to a close with the Minister for Magic, Reginald Halflinger, stepping up to the podium beside the Supreme Mugwump and thanking everybody for attending. Lily ignored him though and tugged Al's sleeve, but he was having a close conversation with her dad about the wards that had been set up.

Instead she turned and watched the Minister and the Supreme Mugwump shake hands for a photographer, noting with surprise that the four 'Phantoms' had vanished. She also noticed that her mother too, was glancing round the room, looking for them.

Then it was announced that the banquet was to begin and that they ought to take their seats; Lily made to follow her parents but upon reaching the tables, found there were name places set out and hers was not to be seen. So she left with Al and they went to find their own spaces among the multitude on the balcony; she was just hoping that she wasn't going to be left on her own next to smarmy git or worse, someone who would try to hit on her.

Thankfully she found her name place on a table that also included her brother's and a couple of names she recognised; Danton Tamra and Charlotte Lovall. They both had gone through Auror Training with Teddy, although Charlotte, or Charlie, had not completed the course. Lily had heard she had taken a post in the Hit Wizard Squads; catching ordinary magical criminals rather than the Dark Wizards. Danny was an easy man to pick out of the crowd as he approached; he wore an eyepatch and when he turned his head you could see the gleam of metal.

Lily waited for Danny to arrive and kissed him on both cheeks, feeling the strange, hard warmth of what could only be described as living metal that made up the right side of his lower jaw. Auror Tamra had suffered a cursed knife wound to the face; an attack that had cost him an eye and ripped away his lower jaw. Healers at St Mungos had managed to replace the shattered jaw with a metallic construct and the skin had even grown back over the area that the knife had not passed through. This meant that from the left hand side, in profile, he looked completely normal, but from the left, Lily's friend had once said that he looked like "The Terminator". The silvery gleam of his lower jaw could be seen where the skin would not grow and when he smiled it was obvious that the teeth on the lower left side of his mouth were made of the same metal.

'Lily! I haven't seen you for a while; not since Teddy left at least!' he said enthusiastically, returning her kisses, 'Al! I haven't seen you for at least-'

'Ten minutes?' her brother replied with a wry grin.

They shook hands anyway and Danny checked the place names, nodding to himself when he saw Charlotte's name and shrugging at the rest.

* * *

The man in shadows had moved on, knowing that everyone would assume he was just another guest of the British Ministry. Everyone had seen the Aurors scattered around the building; the visible ones at least, and anyone with any talent would have felt the wards buzzing around the exterior of the building. To him though; the "security" was a joke. He had slipped through far tighter nets than this one and with far greater pressure being brought to bear upon him; it had been too easy.

He lifted a briefcase and walked down the balcony stairs, against the flow of the crowd, toward a side entrance where a discreet sign indicated the toilets could be found. He paused for a moment to look back around the room before slipping out; the world's greatest and most powerful men and women arrogantly gathered here, and arrogantly they would die.

* * *

Two other relatively young men and a young woman joined their table, filling all but Charlie's place at the table. They consisted of a Norwegian attaché, the Tibetan Foreign Advisor's assistant and a French woman who seemed to have met Al before and kissed him warmly on both cheeks, much to his delight, Lily noticed. She stored that fact away for later blackmail purposes; he did have a girlfriend after all, even if she wasn't supposed to know about her. Al then introduced the woman as Clara Laurent, the daughter of the French Minister for Magic.

Introductions were performed and Lily was about to order her food from the menu in front of her when she noticed something over the heads of the now seated assembly of soon-to-be banqueters. The four Phantoms had reappeared; two on the balcony itself, standing guard apparently; and one on each of the sets of stairs leading upward to the balcony from the main floor. They stood like statues; but apparently poised for anything.

She turned back to her table, menu still in her hands, and asked, 'Danny? You wouldn't happen to know who the people accompanying the Mugwump are, do you?'

It was strange to see the half-frown that was all he was capable of giving her, 'Why do you want to know?'

'Les Fantômes?' the French woman, Clara, asked.

Lily nodded.

'I 'ave 'eard that they practise forbidden magics,' she replied.

Danny shook his head though, 'They're the official bodyguard of the Supreme Mugwump; have been since the time of Merlin, I've heard. There's only supposed to be two guarding any one official at a time, but Ansiledes had a bill pushed through so he could have four. He's supposed to be jumpier than rabbit when it comes to security.'

'So he's got enemies?' Al asked.

'He's the most powerful wizard in the world; influentially, at least. Of course he has enemies.'

The conversation was moving away from where Lily wanted it though and so she brought it back to her initial line of enquiry, 'But the Phantoms? What do they do?'

Danny shrugged, 'They protect the highest members of the International Confederation of Wizards,' a strange look came over his face, 'I remember Teddy once said something about the original Phantoms coming from Avalon before it was destroyed.'

'Avalon?' Lily queried.

Danny had evidently said something he hadn't meant to and shook his head a little too quickly, 'It was just speculation.'

It was Lily's turn to frown at him, 'I thought Avalon was myth.'

He only looked down at his napkin though, 'I don't know the details; it was just something he said.'

For an Auror, he was terrible liar.

Lily pressed him, but he wouldn't say any more and the conversation moved on to what looked like the best choices on the menu.

* * *

They had moved on to politics by the time they had got round to the main course; a topic of conversation that everyone could join in with, although Lily's knowledge was a little hazy. Instead she asked the Tibetan about his home country and he smiled, evidently happy to talk about something other than his job.

He began to describe life in the Himalayas; the mountains, the temples, the history and Lily was more than happy to listen.

Part of her brain wasn't listening, however, instead it was still wondering about Teddy; nearly four years! Why couldn't she just get up and ask? The nearest Phantom; the woman in the harlequin mask was not more than ten metres away; staring down across the Hall.

Her Father's daughter, she excused herself from the conversation and stood up; she wanted to know. Immediately the rest of the men at the table stood up too; etiquette demanded it, she balked a little as people from other tables looked around, but she managed to mutter something about needing to refresh her makeup and began to move away. They sat down and she lost most of the attention she had garnered.

Instead of heading for the stairs and the toilets, however, she began to make a beeline for the harlequin Phantom.

* * *

Ginny leant across to her husband and whispered what they had both been thinking since the Supreme Mugwump had appeared, 'Do you think there's any chance?'

Harry's lips pursed and he turned to her, 'I don't know.'

If Ginny hadn't known better, then she would have said he looked almost nervous.

'Look,' Harry began with a sigh, '_if _he is here and he wants to talk, then he knows he can. I'm not going to force him to talk to us though, not if he doesn't want to.'

Ginny raised an eyebrow, 'If?'

Being a metamorphmagus had granted their Godson the ability to change his appearance at will; he had surpassed even his mother, who herself had been extremely talented in that respect. There had always been three people who had been able to pick him out of a crowd, no matter what he looked like; Andromeda, his Grandmother; Luna Scamander, who had been able to pick Harry out of a crowd while using a Polyjuice Potion and had odd talents like that; and Harry himself, who knew his Godson better than anyone. Even after his Auror Training, Harry had been able to detect a disguised Teddy from a good fifty meters, stating that, "There are some things about a person that you cannot change; little tells that give you away." Teddy had spent months trying to eliminate his tells, but he had never been able to slip past his Godfather.

On seeing the fully masked Phantom, Ginny had immediately assumed it was Teddy and that he did not want to be recognised by old colleagues or his family. Harry, though, was implying that Teddy might not be here at all. In a private setting she would have asked for an explanation, but in the middle of a Ministry banquet, it simply wasn't appropriate. Instead she tried to analyse Harry's words for a clue; he had said "if" and Harry was only ambiguous when he had to be. That meant that he didn't recognise Teddy as either of the men, or even the apparent 'women' who were the Phantoms.

In itself that could mean one of several things; simply, that Teddy wasn't there, or one of two other options if he was. The first being that he had managed to eliminate whatever it had been that had given him away to Harry in the years he had been away, the second being that he wasn't visible.

From what she had heard from Harry, who had shared every scrap of information he managed to gather on the Phantoms after Teddy had been recruited, she knew that they were all incredibly magically gifted. Therefore, she supposed; if Teddy didn't want to be seen, then there were a dozen ways in which he could go about avoiding them, even if he was here. That didn't make her miss the opportunity, to even catch a glimpse of him, just to see that he was well.

"If", though; that made Ginny suspect that Harry thought Teddy _was_ here, despite all of her reasoning.

* * *

Harry, on the other hand, was in a bit of a dilemma. He always been able to pick Teddy out of a crowd, no matter what; he himself assumed it was down to Godfatherly instinct, it was simple like being able to do magic: you could or you couldn't.

He hadn't recognised his Godson as one of those making up the contingent of bodyguards surrounding Joran-Ansiledes, but he also knew his Godson well enough that he could conceal himself in other ways. Upon joining the Auror Corps himself, Harry had made it his main objective to begin introducing Muggle intelligence techniques to Wizarding Law Enforcement and, at first, they had had incredible success. Finger-printing and DNA testing had advanced Magical Law Enforcement by years and they had caught several escaped Death Eaters through those means.

Unfortunately, the Magical criminal community were just as sharp and they moved on too. A new generation of Magical-Non-Magical advancement had been born and it moved like an arms race. Several times had Law Enforcement squads, and even Aurors, been caught in Muggle made booby traps; simply because they were undetectable through conventional, magical means. Harry had even heard of an entire French NCI Squad, the equivalent of the Auror Corps, being wiped out in a trap which had involved the use of nerve gas; completely undetectable using magic at the time. Five elite men and women, as well as several hostages, had been killed by a gas that was odourless and colourless.

The event had nearly sparked a major panic in the Magical Community across Europe and had highlighted the need for strong Muggle relations dramatically.

Therefore, with the rise of outside the box thinking, Harry couldn't be sure if his Godson was here at all. Something in his gut said that Teddy wasn't far away though, and for Harry, that was enough. To tell Ginny that though, was something else; she would demand proof, and right now he didn't have it.

He was just going over his train of thought when he saw his daughter get up and begin to walk towards the nearest Phantom.

* * *

Lily reached out a hand to tap the woman's elbow and said, 'Excuse me,' at the same time, but the woman was already turning before she had begun to speak.

She was tall; nearly, if not, six feet and from what Lily could see, she would be beautiful. A delicate jaw framed full lips that were still drawn upwards in an almost smile and her eyes looked out from behind the mask with violet amusement.

'Yes?' came a soft voice, tinged with some foreign accent that Lily was unable to identify, that meandered forth from between those scarlet lips.

'I… I…' Lily was suddenly incredibly nervous and aware that people were beginning to look at the girl who had dared to approach one of the Phantoms on guard.

Then she drew herself up; she wasn't going to be nervous just because people were looking at her. People were always trying to look at her; she was Harry Potter's daughter for Merlin's sake.

She drew herself up and took a breath, 'Do you know who Teddy Lupin is?' she asked.

As the question fell from her lips though, some sort of commotion began in the Hall below; someone had just stumbled and fallen through one of the side entrances. She turned and recognised the uniform of a Law Enforcement Officer.

As she stared in consternation he struggled to his hands and knees and vomited blood across the polished floor.

* * *

**A/N: **Thanks to those of you who have reviewed! Keep them coming, am exploring ideas here as they come, so feel free to comment on which parts you like/dislike and leave your opinions. By the way, the current Teddy Lupin and the Phantom Queen is a part re-write; the old version also contains 'canon' info for this story, but is set earlier in Teddy's training. If people want it back, I can repost it, although, neither version is finished and will not be unfortunately... so any repost would only be for people who want a little more background info. So leave a comment/review if you want it.

Cheers!


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